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The Numbers Behind NUMB3RS: Solving Crime with Mathematics |  | Authors: Keith Devlin, Gary Lorden
Publisher: Plume
List Price: $15.00
Buy Used: $2.68
as of 11/22/2009 21:43 CST details
You Save: $12.32 (82%)
New (28) Used (28) Collectible (1) from $2.68
Seller: Bookbrothers1
Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 58659
Media: Paperback
Edition: First Printing
Pages: 256
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.2
ISBN: 0452288576
Dewey Decimal Number: 363.25015195
EAN: 9780452288577
ASIN: 0452288576
Publication Date: August 28, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The companion to the hit CBS crime series Numb3rs presents the fascinating way mathematics is used to fight real-life crime
Using the popular CBS prime-time TV crime series Numb3rs as a springboard, Keith Devlin (known to millions of NPR listeners as the Math Guy on NPRs Weekend Edition with Scott Simon) and Gary Lorden (the principal math advisor to Numb3rs) explain real-life mathematical techniques used by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies to catch and convict criminals. From forensics to counterterrorism, the Riemann hypothesis to image enhancement, solving murders to beating casinos, Devlin and Lorden present compelling cases that illustrate how advanced mathematics can be used in state-of-the-art criminal investigations.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 15
For my Wife April 14, 2009
T. Dickerson (Eugene, OR)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Bought it , was going to read it, but my wife got ahold of it first! She says it's good stuff!
 Fascinating January 11, 2009
Christineljacobsen (nyc)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I bought this book for my son. He thinks it's great, and really interesting! The seemingly difficult math in the show is explained so that you can understand it.
Applied mathematics on TV August 7, 2008
F. William Weaver (Greeley, CO)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book is an excellent resource to help show the successes and failures of applied mathematics in forensic science. I plan to use this book as a resource to show students that mathematics has a very practical side.
 GET A BLOODHOUND July 9, 2008
James B. Johnson (HUDSON, FL United States)
2 out of 16 found this review helpful
I do well with statistics, but if youre not competent with statistics you'll miss about half of the material in this book.
You wont 'get' it, and you'll be bored.
The other things I dont like about the book are the assumptions that suspects stay put and stick to their patterns. They dont. Suspects are worse than tomcats about wandering off and staying gone.
But, hey! It keeps math geeks off welfare, and it looks good to morons who dont know any better....like police management.
 Are you kidding? June 12, 2008
Patrick T. Stingley
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
Elementary, and then some. The book is a very simple read. Anyone who can follow the show can also follow this book. But the math...
On page 84 it gives an example that says that there are 75 black taxis and 15 blue ones, correctly stating that this is a ratio of 5:1, then it goes on to say that the chances of a taxi being black are 1 out of 5. Clearly, this should have been 1 out of 6. (If there are five of one thing, plus one of another would make a total of six, not five.)
Using 1 out of 5 instead of 1 out of 6 makes the math work out easier with little difference in the overall outcome, but come on. Two guys with PhDs in math making mistakes on elementary school level math? In a book that features math?
As Einstein once said: "Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler."
(It might also improve the book if they added an e-mail address to direct errata to next time around.)
Showing reviews 1-5 of 15
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